Flooded freeways, tornadoes plague rest of Texas.

Jon Leija (left) walks in the cold weather with his son Daniel Leija (right) and Lia Leija,4, Monday January 9, 2012 on St. Mary's street in downtown San Antonio. Tuesday's forecast calls for clear skies with temperatures in the low 60s.

Lightning flashed in the distance, but San Antonio saw just .12 of an inch of rain Monday morning.

Other parts of Texas dealt with more serious weather events.

A strong storm with heavy rains and at least two suspected tornadoes raced into the Houston area, causing widespread flash flooding and spotty power outages.

Within a few hours, hundreds of motorists were stranded in high water, floodgates at the Texas Medical Center had been activated and rising water completely shut down a major freeway intersection, Texas 288 at the South Loop. Near the intersection, more than a dozen people were trapped in chest-high water.

No deaths were reported.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Monday that a tornado rolled through Fort Bend County. Whether a twister caused the roof collapse at the Mall of the Mainland in Texas City, which was evacuated and closed Monday afternoon, will be determined today.

Two main swaths of rain passed through, pummeling some locales with hail and leaving rainfall ranging from less than one inch to nearly seven inches.

By late Monday, water had started receding and power was largely restored.

In Richmond, southwest of Houston, people were evacuated by boat from areas near downtown, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.

Odessa was expecting eight to 10 inches of snow Monday, according to the National Weather Service, with streets coated in white early in the day and more expected through the night. Eight snowplows were transferred from the Texas Department of Public Safety's Lubbock district to the Odessa district to help.

In North Texas, meanwhile, the National Weather Service said a cold, steady downpour was expected to drop an inch or two of much-needed rain, followed by snow.

Daniel Huckaby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said the “nice, steady rain” would help saturate the ground so that future rain would run off and help fill streams, lakes and reservoirs in drought-stricken areas. In the short-term, he said, the rain will help the growth of winter grass and reduce the danger of wildfires.

“But we're going to need a lot more rain before next summer comes around to avoid still talking about the drought,” Huckaby said.